Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line: Dallas Knack shares updates from the Sauk Valley Area Chamber of Commerce

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Talk Line: Dallas Knack shares updates from the Sauk Valley Area Chamber of Commerce · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

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  Speaker 1: Good morning, Sock Valley. You've joined the Waking crew here
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: on FM ninety five one and AM fourteen sixty w
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  Speaker 1: I XN. It's eight point fifteen on your Tuesday morning,
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  Speaker 1: and that means it's time for talk line and I'm
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  Speaker 1: joined in the booth once again by my good friend
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  Speaker 1: Dallas Knack from the Salk Valley Area Chamber of Commerce. Dallas,
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  Speaker 1: how are you?
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  Speaker 2: I'm great? How are you?
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  Speaker 1: I'm doing well. I'm liking the warmer weather. It might
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: be a little bit wet coming up, but farmers need
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  Speaker 1: it and it just means springs around the corner.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we're all ready for that. I think
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  Speaker 2: we all need some Vitamin D, some sunshine. The nice
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  Speaker 2: temperatures are definitely helping.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely able to get out. There's going to be
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  Speaker 1: events happening all over the Salk Valley and so that's
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  Speaker 1: kind of where we're starting today is with your Sock
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  Speaker 1: Valley Under forty event.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so we're crossing our fingers for some great weather.
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  Speaker 2: On Saturday, April twenty fifth, our Sock Valley Under forty
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  Speaker 2: group is doing a community give back day, so they
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  Speaker 2: are going to get some connections. They're going to have
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  Speaker 2: some networking pieces, and then we're going to get out
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  Speaker 2: downtown Sterling kind of the riverfront area. We are going
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  Speaker 2: to talk about the riverfront development. A lot of people
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  Speaker 2: just look at it and they're like, what is happening here?
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  Speaker 2: What's going on? I know that you are well versed
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  Speaker 2: in some of these conversations, but how do we help
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  Speaker 2: broaden that message? How do we help get it into
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  Speaker 2: other people's hands. So we're going to talk about that space.
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  Speaker 2: We're also going to walk around. We're gonna have a
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  Speaker 2: bit of a mindfulness walk through the prairie grass. I
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  Speaker 2: don't know if you've ever walked that whole area down
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  Speaker 2: to the Red Bridge and all that. It is such
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  Speaker 2: a pretty walk, So we're going to walk that. But
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  Speaker 2: we're also going to pick up some garbage along the way.
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  Speaker 2: It is around Earth Day, so we want to give
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  Speaker 2: back to the community, get invested in the place where
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  Speaker 2: we live. So on April twenty fifth, come down to
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  Speaker 2: the Farmer's Market at nine am. Maybe stop a little
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  Speaker 2: bit early, grab a coffee at the Farmer's Market, maybe
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  Speaker 2: a little sweet treat to start your day, and then
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  Speaker 2: we're gonna kick it off with Stock Valley under forty.
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  Speaker 1: I absolutely love that. That is a great recommendation stopping
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  Speaker 1: at the farmers market. I love when that season comes along,
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  Speaker 1: and this is just a great way to kind of
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  Speaker 1: kick off this event. For anybody who's not familiar, what
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  Speaker 1: is the stock Valley Under forty Group.
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  Speaker 2: Stock Valley under forty is formerly the Keystone Group. So
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  Speaker 2: this started as a group of millennials and then gen
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  Speaker 2: z as they kind of enter the workforce, so we've
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  Speaker 2: rebranded to stock Valley under forty is for individuals under
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  Speaker 2: the age of forty anywhere they can work, live, play
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  Speaker 2: anywhere in the Sock Valley. You don't have to be
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  Speaker 2: a certain resident of a certain city. This event, yes
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  Speaker 2: is taking place in Sterling, you don't have to live
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  Speaker 2: and work in Sterling. You can be from anywhere and
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  Speaker 2: you just want to get involved and meet new people.
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  Speaker 2: That's really what it's about, is about providing a space
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  Speaker 2: for those younger individuals in our community to get invested.
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  Speaker 2: A lot of people and a lot of our companies
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  Speaker 2: bring people, especially some of our young interns are fresh
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  Speaker 2: out of college. They'll bring them to us at the
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  Speaker 2: chamber and say we want to get them involved. They
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  Speaker 2: want to be involved, where do they start? And so
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  Speaker 2: I've kind of been taking those people by the hand
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  Speaker 2: and introducing them to various things. So I'm trying to
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  Speaker 2: do that on a broader scale. Now. This has been
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  Speaker 2: a project that has been ongoing for a number of
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  Speaker 2: years now in partnership with sir excuse me, Sterling Main
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  Speaker 2: Street as well, and we're just trying to broaden that
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  Speaker 2: and make it more of a community involvement through personal
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  Speaker 2: and professional development. So we have some professional development pieces
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  Speaker 2: coming up. We have a workshop that we'll be doing
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  Speaker 2: in September, but we also have some personal pieces like
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  Speaker 2: the Riverfront cleanup Day.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. I absolutely love that and especially the thought of
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  Speaker 1: getting people involved earlier in their community. It never hurts
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  Speaker 1: to network, to make those connections and just to be
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  Speaker 1: invested in your community. You never really know where that's
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  Speaker 1: going to lead you. And that leads us to your
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  Speaker 1: professional Women's Networks workshop.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, so again in April and April twenty ninth, that's
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  Speaker 2: a Wednesday, We're doing a lunch and learn at Woodlawn
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  Speaker 2: Arts Academy. Is from eleven o'clock to one o'clock. It's
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  Speaker 2: on real colors. So if you've ever taken disc or
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  Speaker 2: any agram or any of those personality assessments. This is
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  Speaker 2: a version of that, but Carla Belzer from the University
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  Speaker 2: of Illinois Extension is going to be joining us. We're
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  Speaker 2: going to take an assessment prior to the event, and
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  Speaker 2: then we will receive our results at the event, and
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  Speaker 2: then we're going to break out into some groups and
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  Speaker 2: we're going to talk about how does the color that
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  Speaker 2: I received, how does that play in my personal and
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  Speaker 2: professional life. So this is a really great activity maybe
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  Speaker 2: for some teams to come out to. It's wonderful for anyone,
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  Speaker 2: but if you can bring a colleague around, it's so
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  Speaker 2: interesting to see like, oh, you got this color and
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  Speaker 2: I got this color, and this is what it means
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  Speaker 2: for our working relationship, maybe even our personal relationship. So
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  Speaker 2: it's just a very interesting way to break down insights
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  Speaker 2: on our personalities and just maybe work on some things,
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  Speaker 2: maybe find some things we need to work on, maybe
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  Speaker 2: figure out this is how I work best, or these
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  Speaker 2: are the best people that I interact with, and maybe
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  Speaker 2: I have some gaps, maybe I need to work on
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  Speaker 2: a few things. So it's going to be a really
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  Speaker 2: fun day. On April twenty ninth, again at Woodlawn. It
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  Speaker 2: is over the lunch hour, so you will receive lunch
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  Speaker 2: during it. You will receive access to take the personality
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  Speaker 2: assessment online prior to the event, and there's going to
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  Speaker 2: be some networking activities as well. So April twenty ninth.
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  Speaker 2: There is a cost to register for that one, and
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  Speaker 2: spots are filling up very quickly, so if you want
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  Speaker 2: to do that, I highly recommend registering as soon as
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  Speaker 2: you can. You can find more information on all of
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  Speaker 2: our social media pages, but also SoC Valley Area Chamber
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  Speaker 2: dot com slash pwn for Professional Women's Network, you can
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  Speaker 2: register right there.
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  Speaker 1: Well, there you have it, folks, go sign up. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: this is a great way to make new connections, whether
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  Speaker 1: it's a friend or professional. Like you said, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: there's collaboration. You could find that that missing piece that
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  Speaker 1: you've been looking for that's stuck in somebody else's head,
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  Speaker 1: and then who knows where that could take the two
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  Speaker 1: of you after that.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and Professional Women's Network has been growing tremendously, so
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  Speaker 2: we're very excited to have this event. We think that
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  Speaker 2: we're going to have a record turnout for this one.
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  Speaker 2: We're hitting about one hundred people coming to all of
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  Speaker 2: our events, and it's just a really great way to,
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  Speaker 2: like you said, make some of those connections. Also just
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  Speaker 2: get out and get some affordable professional development. We know
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  Speaker 2: that sending your staff away to a retreat or to
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: a weekend long conference, it's not always affordable for most
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  Speaker 2: of our businesses, so we're really trying to prioritize having
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  Speaker 2: good quality learning opportunities at an affordable price for our members.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I love hearing that. I'm sure everyone else does.
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  Speaker 1: To get out their sign up seats are filling up.
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  Speaker 1: You also wanted to touch on you still have some
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  Speaker 1: scholarships that are open right now.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, we do so at scholarship season, we have already
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  Speaker 2: had a couple of our scholarship applications close, but we
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  Speaker 2: have a couple more that are still available until April first.
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  Speaker 2: That includes our Manufacturing scholarship, and that's for students that
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  Speaker 2: are going to stock Valley Community College or Morrison Tech,
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  Speaker 2: so it's local students that are staying local. We also
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  Speaker 2: have a business scholarship that's available our Hispanic Heritage and
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  Speaker 2: we also have a CDL scholarship. All of those are
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  Speaker 2: still available until April first, so there's more information again.
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  Speaker 2: Sock Valley Area Chamber dot com slash Scholarships is where
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  Speaker 2: you're going to find all that information and it's on
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  Speaker 2: all of our social too. So if you are looking
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  Speaker 2: for some money to go to school in the fall,
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  Speaker 2: please please please apply. I there's a lot of money
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  Speaker 2: to go around. I'm gonna be honest, there's a lot
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  Speaker 2: of opportunity. It's not very cumbersome to apply for it.
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  Speaker 2: I highly recommend taking advantage of this opportunity.
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  Speaker 1: I know when I was a student out at Stock
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  Speaker 1: Valley Community College, I would always always apply for any
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  Speaker 1: scholarship I can, And between that and my experiences reporting,
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  Speaker 1: you learn that you're right. There's usually an awful lot
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  Speaker 1: of money to go around, because it seems to me
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  Speaker 1: like not enough people take advantage of applying after this,
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  Speaker 1: and there's even a lot of times where some there's
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  Speaker 1: still money left over. There's no reason for that. If
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  Speaker 1: you want to further your education and that's been a
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  Speaker 1: barrier for you, getting some financial assistance like this is
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  Speaker 1: just kind of the best way to go.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely. And the nice thing about these funds is that
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  Speaker 2: it can go for books, it can go for a tuition,
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  Speaker 2: so it's not just for your classes. Maybe you have
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  Speaker 2: a really nice financial aid plan. Maybe you have a
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  Speaker 2: really nice scholarship already in police, but you need some books,
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  Speaker 2: or you need some materials. Especially when we talk about manufacturing,
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  Speaker 2: maybe you need steel toed boots. This is a really
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  Speaker 2: great way to get money for those necessary items for
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  Speaker 2: your classes.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, Now you are a busy person, always on the go.
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  Speaker 1: You're leaving today and you want to kind of talk
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  Speaker 1: about where you're going.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So today we are hosting our very first nonprofit
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  Speaker 2: round table. A lot of our members at the Stackvale
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  Speaker 2: Area Chamber are nonprofits, and we know that they all
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  Speaker 2: have varying levels of need. They also have varying levels
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  Speaker 2: of staff and support and finances. So we are holding
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  Speaker 2: a round table today to talk a little bit about
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  Speaker 2: what resources are there in the community, what resources do
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  Speaker 2: we need, maybe just give them a space to talk
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  Speaker 2: to like minded people. I know that nonprofit world is
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  Speaker 2: very different from some of our other industries, so being
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  Speaker 2: able to sit at a table with people who get
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  Speaker 2: it is going to hopefully be a big part of
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  Speaker 2: our conversation today. We're hoping to have a couple more
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  Speaker 2: of these meetings throughout the year. Maybe quarterly depending on
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  Speaker 2: how today goes. So if there is a nonprofit out
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  Speaker 2: there that's listening that isn't signed up for today reach out.
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  Speaker 2: We would love to chat with you either one on
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  Speaker 2: one before our next meeting or get you on the
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  Speaker 2: list so that you know when the meetings are coming up.
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  Speaker 2: We're just really hoping to provide another resource to those individuals.
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  Speaker 2: We know that funding can be a little scary for
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  Speaker 2: them right now. There's a lot of things going on
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  Speaker 2: that are affecting the work that some of our nonprofits do,
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  Speaker 2: and so hoping to just bring them together and maybe
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  Speaker 2: this will be a little shining moment in their day.
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  Speaker 2: Hopefully maybe it'll just lift everyone's spirits and help us
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  Speaker 2: continue to do the wonderful work that our nonprofits do
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  Speaker 2: for our community because they are phenomenal. They really are
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  Speaker 2: the bread and butter of our community. They get the
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  Speaker 2: things done that maybe we don't see, just the behind
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  Speaker 2: the scenes work this all of them do. So we're
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  Speaker 2: hoping to just be another support system for those individuals.
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  Speaker 1: That's really great for these kind of a groups because
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  Speaker 1: while non profits, I think in that space everybody probably
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  Speaker 1: works really well together. You would almost think at the
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  Speaker 1: opposite of the fact of like competing. You know, maybe
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  Speaker 1: they're similar nonprofits, right and funds out there are scarce
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  Speaker 1: right now. So bringing these groups together to kind of
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  Speaker 1: help each other is really cool. And there's, like you said,
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  Speaker 1: there's different levels of nonprofits. You might have somebody who's
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  Speaker 1: still rather new. Maybe it's just them and maybe a
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  Speaker 1: couple of people and they're like, ah, what am I
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  Speaker 1: doing now? You're bringing people who have been in the
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: space for a while, and you guys are just collaborating,
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  Speaker 1: And I absolutely love that.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. I know, I'm the only full time person at
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: our chamber, and so I know sometimes that's hard, right.
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  Speaker 2: We only have so much bandwidth, we only have so
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: many hours in the day that we can do things.
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  Speaker 2: And so hopefully by bringing this collective together, maybe we
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: can pick each other's brains a little bit. Maybe we
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: say like, oh, I keep hearing about this one specific
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: software or something, but I haven't had time to look
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: into it, and someone can say, oh, we use it,
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  Speaker 2: here's the pros and cons. Maybe just helping each other
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  Speaker 2: out with some of those things that might take something
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  Speaker 2: off your to do lists or might quite frankly add
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: things to her to do list because you might get
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  Speaker 2: excited about ideas there, but hopefully just a nice sounding
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  Speaker 2: board for individuals.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, and one thing that I hope everybody ends up
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  Speaker 1: having if they don't have it yet, and we still
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  Speaker 1: got a few minutes to talk about is the CEO
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  Speaker 1: Trade Show. I absolutely love this. Tell folks about it.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: I know plenty about it. You tell folks what is this?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So the CEO Trade Show this year is going
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  Speaker 2: to be on April twenty ninth and thirtieth. It'll be
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: at Northland Mall. So for those unfamiliar with the CEO program,
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  Speaker 2: this is a program through the Career Center, but it
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  Speaker 2: brings students from all of our local high schools. Is
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  Speaker 2: open to anyone in the eighteen high school district, but
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: we have a nice mix of probably about six or
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: eight high schools that are represented right now. So these
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: students go through their junior and or senior year in
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  Speaker 2: the program, meeting local businesses, getting tours, getting a lot
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  Speaker 2: of leadership skills. They get in front of a lot
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  Speaker 2: of our area leader and get to ask them direct questions,
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: interact with those people, kind of have a behind the
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  Speaker 2: scenes access to some of our businesses and corporations and
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: nonprofits and pretty much anyone that is willing to do
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  Speaker 2: a tour. So these students work through the program and
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  Speaker 2: they put together a class business. So you might remember
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: the trivia night that we had recently, or the gala
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  Speaker 2: that they had at McCormick Center prior to that. That's
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: the class business where all the students come together and
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: work on putting that together. And then to end the class,
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: they all put together their individual business. So each student
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: makes a business. They actually next week are pitching it
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: to get a loan from the program so that they
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: can actually start and create a business. And some of
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: these will continue on. Some of them is just for
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: the trade show, but it's a really great way to
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: come out and support our local entrepreneurs, our local students.
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  Speaker 2: They might just be in the program to learn some
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: leadership skills and learn more about our community. That's one
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: of the biggest selling points of this program is just
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: the community ties that these students make. That's incredible for
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: a sixteen, seventeen, eighteen year old to have if you
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: think about it. So on April twenty ninth and thirtieth,
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: come out to the Northland Mall. It'll be in the evening,
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: there's going to be so much stuff, So bring lots
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: of money, and there's going to be lots of goodies
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: to eat. There's going to be lots of things to
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: take home. It's going to be not too far before
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: mothers say. So it's a great place to come out
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: and shop for mothers say, if you're in the market.
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  Speaker 2: But it's just a great way, like I said, to
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  Speaker 2: support the CEO students.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, And like you said, this isn't just about students
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: who necessarily, you know, they want to start a business
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: and that's what they know their life plan is. I
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: mean kids making these kind of connections in our area.
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  Speaker 1: That's going to help them when they go to apply
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: for jobs in the area. Maybe they know somebody and
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: that leads to, you know, a full on career and
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: more than just a part time job, you know, while
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: they're in their senior year of high school. So this
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: is really important And it was so cool because I
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: actually stumbled upon this. It was like a year or
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: two ago as a reporter. Me and my wife were
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: just out at the mall and we were running into
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: Dunhams and I was like, what is going on here?
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: And I started talking and I said, honey, I've got
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: my notepad with me, you know I do. I'm like,
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: this is a story. I've got to go talk to
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: these kids. And it was great. By the time I
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: was done talking with like I talked about like at
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  Speaker 1: seven or eight, I didn't have time to make all
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  Speaker 1: the rounds, but I was like, what am I doing
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  Speaker 1: with my life? Why am I not a business owner?
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: These kids have these brilliant ideas. So anyways, just such
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: a great program could not suggest that more if you've
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: got a student who can still take advantage of that,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: whether they want to start a business or not. Dallas,
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: I know we're out of time here and you've got
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: to get going, but I want to thank you very
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: much for sharing all this information and for all the
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: great that you and the Chamber do to enrich our
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: Sock Valley.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much,